Computer chipmaker Intel has been fined a record 1.06bn euros ($1.45bn; £948m) by the European Commission for anti-competitive practices.

The Santa Clara, California-based company dominated the 22-billion-euro (30-billion-dollar) market for the ubiquitous x86 CPUs with a 70-percent share during the more than five years it was accused of breaking EU antitrust rules.

“Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for many years,” EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said.

“Such a serious and sustained violation of the EU’s antitrust rules cannot be tolerated,” she added.

The commission said Intel had used wholly or partially hidden rebates to get PC makers such as Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and NEC to buy all or almost all their CPU supplies from Intel instead of US rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

ESET, the leader in proactive threat protection, today announced that it received a CNET Editors’ Choice award for ESET Smart Security 4, the recently updated integrated security solution combining antivirus, anti-spyware and anti-spam functionality with a personal firewall. The coveted CNET Editors’ Choice award recognizes outstanding consumer electronics that represent the best available choice for quality, performance, design, service, value, and its logo is a mark of excellence denoting the best possible investment for consumers.

CNET Editors’ Choice winners are recognized as top products in their respective technology categories, and contribute to the standard by which all future products are judged. A key selection requirement is that it must also change the competitive landscape of its market, whether through innovative features, exceptional value for the price, remarkable ease of use, or a demonstrable boost to the lives of its users.

“ESET Smart Security is surprisingly light, consuming around 50MB of RAM when running, and ESET NOD32 has consistently scored near the top of several independent antivirus testing organization ratings for finding the most malware while encountering fewer false positives than most,” said Seth Rosenblatt, senior associate editor, CNET Downloads. “For getting all your security tools in one box, Smart Security is an effective and well-respected choice.”

“We are very excited about this honor from CNET as their Editors’ Choice award has become the hallmark of technology quality and innovation, and its logo is a symbol consumers know and trust,” said Anton Zajac, CEO, ESET LLC. “This is an exceptional achievement and we are very proud to be recognized for our dedication and commitment to providing users with the most advanced protection from evolving security threats.”

Built on the same engine that powers ESET NOD32 Antivirus, ESET Smart Security 4 also features anti-spam and firewall functionality, both of which received high marks in usability and effectiveness. ESET’s detection and diagnostic features safeguard users from deceptive forms of malware by digging deeper into the operating system, files and encrypted browser traffic to identify and eliminate hidden malware threats. ESET Smart Security 4 proactively blocks most new malware attacks before they can compromise systems or steal data.